DURBAN - The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), on behalf of the Department of Science and Technology, will for the first time undertake a standardised survey of the informal sector in South Africa.
This study, which will be launched at the Mpumuza Traditiona Court in Sweetwaters, KwaZulu-Natal, will be undertaken within the context of South Africa’s commitment to create the conditions for economic growth and job creation, while also harnessing the potential of the digital economy and technology to achieve these goals.
Speaking in 2017, now President Cyril Ramaphosa, said there was a need to understand development and innovation in the township economy.
“It is the people living in townships, informal settlements and rural towns and villages who will occupy the new jobs that growth and transformation will bring, and whose families will benefit from rising standards of living.
“It is in these areas that young entrepreneurs will emerge, new businesses will be established, new factories must be opened, new social infrastructure developed and where new innovations will emerge,” he said.
With a view to understanding the innovation in the township economy, the HSRC will conduct this study with informal businesses in Sweetwaters.
According to Dr Glenda Kruss, director of the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators at the HSRC: “Innovation is a driver of successful economies around the world. To get our economy working again, South Africa must harness the full potential of its innovative capabilities.
“Whether in JSE-listed companies serving customers around the world, or in local businesses serving customers around the corner, innovators are vital players to our future national development.”
The survey’s lead investigator, Dr Nazeem Mustapha, a chief research specialist at the HSRC, said that our understanding of innovation in South Africa remained very limited.
“This is because national studies on innovation tend to focus more on measurement within specific industrial and services sub-sectors, and much less on innovation within specific geographic communities, including townships or rural communities. The resulting gaps in the research evidence makes local, provincial or national policy-making on innovation, and inclusive development challenging.”
The study will be divided into three main stages: the first will include identifying enterprises to be included in the study through geo-mapping; the second will include a questionnaire to the enterprises about their innovation activities; and the third will include workshops and interviews with the informal business community and other local stakeholders.